2012 China Experience: Global Competitiveness

On Monday, the Global Learning Fellows met with leaders of
Fastco Shanghai Trading Company, the Fastenal Asia Sourcing and Trading Company.
Fastenal is a global manufacturing leader that sells industrial and construction
supplies around the world, and FastCo is the Asia sourcing company that allows
Fastenal to work in real-time with factories they work with and source from
throughout Asia. We met with members of the FastCo team from the United States
and from China. The presentations and Q&A sessions at Fastenal allowed the
Fellows to better understand the skills students will need to succeed in the
global economy and the future.

Leveling the playing field

“This is what outsourcing looks like.” Jason Di Giulio, high
school teacher from Canaan, VT, summed it up succinctly. “Getting the chance to
hear first-hand what global employers are looking for in potential hires helped
us get a better understanding of what we need to instill in our students.” Cheryl
Macy, high school English teacher from Carson City, NV agreed with Jason. “Our
students are no longer competing with other kids in their classes or towns,”
she said. “They’re competing with students from all around the world.”

Fastenal primarily hires entry-level employees, so they are looking
for workers who have the skills to grow and develop within the company, rather
than experience in the field. For Paul Pierce, who oversees all the Shanghai
team leads, the most valuable thing in an employee is “the ability to make a
decision, and explain that decision, even if it’s the wrong one.”

East vs. West

When Susan Turnipseed, fourth grade
technology teacher from Brookings, SD asked about the difference between his
Chinese staff and American staff, and the job skills she should bring to her
students, Paul explained. “My Chinese staff is better at following procedure and
memorizing rules, but they are often afraid to make a decision. They also tend
to be hesitant to share ideas – I don’t do collaborative meetings with my staff
in Shanghai. I will talk to them one-to-one to get ideas, but during
collaborative meetings, they don’t want to be wrong, so I won’t get anything
from them,” he said. “With American staff, I’m able to brainstorm and bounce
ideas off each other as a group, which can be very valuable. We need people who
aren’t afraid to make mistakes. All we can lose if we mess up is money, but if
I have creative thinkers who can look at the facts and aren’t afraid to make
decisions and back them up, they’ll more than make up for any money we lose if
they happen to make the wrong decision.”

Building students' global "tool-kits"

The 21st century skills our Global Fellows stress in their classrooms
across the country are precisely what will keep students competitive in the
global market. Cheryl Macy reflected on collaboration, teamwork, and the ability
to make decisions. “International
commerce is important for teachers to see first hand. We’re told our students
will be part of a global market in the future, but we don’t really know exactly
what that means as educators,” she said. “Teachers are tool-kit builders. We
need to help our students develop the foundational skills through group work
and decision building. The employees
here said there are so many experiences in working at Fastenal that they couldn’t
get in school, but I think that we need to prepare them to be open to those
experiences. To work in a global world, we need to know stereotypes, and be
completely willing to let go of them. One of the presenters explained that
understanding cultures, and being able to learn about cultural differences is
key. Where Fastenal works in Northern China, the business culture is more
straightforward. If you ask for a 20% discount, and they say ‘no,’ the answer
is ‘no.’ In the South, if they say ‘no’ to a discount, it is an opening to
negotiate. I think that’s also why it’s so important for students and teachers
to take part in international travel – to be able to understand the world from
a different perspective and recognize that not everyone operates the same way
they do.”